Marching into Spring Week 4!

See the links below for the DW/Stampendous/Woodware hop!

Ready for fresh air, sunshine, new leaves, and flowers blooming? Well, the Dream Team is right there with you! Our challenge for the month of March is...coincidentally...Marching into Spring. Per usual, we'd love to have you play along with us, and link your own creations to theInlinkz tool on the Dream It Up! blog, or at the bottom of this post. Play as many times as you'd like. Those of you who work Dreamweaver and/or Stampendous products into your projects receive bonus points, but everyone has an opportunity to be the winner who receives the stencil of their choice.

A sure sign of Spring is Easter, and with Easter only a week away, I decided that a fun Easter card was the perfect way to end this month's challenge.

Here's my hint of Spring, Easter style:

Easter egg stencil - LG685
Double-glitter technique

You can't make an Easter card without glitter! The Dreamweaver Easter egg stencil (LG685) is perfect for the beautiful Double-glitter Technique. The stencil is actually egg-shaped, so you get a nice "frame" of glitter too. Here's how you do it:

• Cut a piece of Dreamweaver Double-sided mounting paper (MPDS) a little larger than the stencil
• Cut a piece of colorful cardstock an 1/8" each direction larger than the MPDS
• Remove the release paper from one side of the MPDS and center it on the cardstock
• Place the stencil face down on a paper towel and gently rub the back with Dreamweaver Handmade Hawaiian Soap (DHHS) making sure to go over all the back
• Use a large stencil brush to brush away any flakes of soap from the openings
• Remove the top piece of release paper from the MPDS and place the stencil, soap side down, on the sticky surface
• Use a piece of release paper to press the stencil firmly on the sticky paper
• I used Stampendous fran-tage micro glitters (Lavender, Orange, Pink and Teal) to "color" my egg
• To remove the stencil, turn the glittered image face down on a clean surface and gently peel the paper off the stencil, making sure to keep the stencil flat on the surface
• Sprinkle the exposed sticky paper with Crystal micro glitter to finish off the design
• Mount on a cute paper, add a pretty bow, and you've got a great Easter card!

When I first finished the card it didn't have the bow and looked like this:

Pretty, but I felt like it needed a little something, hence, the bow. Which do you like?  Also, after I finished glittering, I decided to add a second layer to the flowers because I had gotten a little Teal glitter in the pink flowers. I like the dimension the additional layer gives.  Here's a close up:

The links for DW/Stampendous/Woodware

Stampendous Blog

Pam Hornschu

Kristine Reynolds

Lea Kimmel

Woodware Craft Collection Blog

Debs Frost

Dreamweaver Stencils Blog

Lyn Bernatovich

Gill Wilson

Louise Healy

Laura Drahozal

Lynn Mercurio

 

Happy Creating,

Louise

An InLinkz Link-up

August as an Adjective!

As we are heading towards back-to-school again, it is only appropriate that we break out our dictionary for this month's Dreamweaver challenge..."AUGUST as an ADJECTIVE"! 

Merriam-Webster defines august as, "marked by majestic dignity or grandeur", with synonyms such as, "dignified, distinguished, imposing, portly, solemn, staid, and stately". Now, I don't know just how dignified and stately the Dream Team can become for an entire month, but we are all going to give it a try! How about trying along with us, and linking YOUR creations to the inlinkz tool below for a chance to win the wildest stencil design your little heart is screaming for. 

Here's my creation for this week:

LG730 Peacock - double glitter technique

It's always difficult to photograph this technique and capture the real beauty of it. The Peacock (LG730) itself fits the definition of august, and the glitter makes it especially so! Here are the steps for creating this simple, but elegant card:

• Use Dreamweaver Handmade Hawaiian Soap to apply a coat of soap on the back of the stencil
• Use a large brush to sweep away any excess soap flake in the openings
• Apply  a piece of Mounting Paper Double-sided to a deep blue piece of cardstock that is 1/4" larger than the mounting paper each direction
• Remove the release paper from the mounting paper and place the stencil on the sticky surface, soap side down. (use the release paper to pat the stencil in place)
• Use a cut straw or small spoon to apply glitter to each area
• Rub the glitter gently into the openings with your finger
• Carefully brush away any excess glitters using the larger stencil brush
• Place the stencil face down on the table and carefully peel off the glittered image, making sure to keep your stencil flat
• Sprinkle the exposed sticky background with clear glitter
• Mount into a wonderful card

Just a note, I like to use opaque glitters for the main image and transparent glitter for the background. I thought about adding a beautiful ribbon from May Arts, but I decided that this beautiful peacock was august enough to stand on its own!

Put on a straight face for the "A" team this week:

Dream It Up!

Leadonna Kimmel

Louise Healy

Laura Drahozal

Lynn Mercurio

Pam Hornschu

Jamie Martin

Happy Creating,
Louise
An InLinkz Link-up

Awesome in Autumn Week 2!

Ready to be sparkly? This month is the annual collaboration between Dreamweaver Stencils and Art Glitter, and it promises to have double the glitter and double the fun! Follow the trail of bling all of this month on the Art Glitter blog, and the Dream It Up! blog. Play along with the monthly challenge of "Awesome in Autumn" and link your creations to the linkytool on the Dream It Up! Thursday posts for a chance to win some stupendous stencils and glamorous glitter! As if that wasn't cool enough, Art Glitter is offering a 20% discount this month if you use the code DW20 and...

Stencil with Style is also offering a 20% discount this month if you use the code SWS20!

It's hard to get in the Autumn mood during these 95 degree days we are having right now, but it is my favorite time of year, so that makes it easier. Here's what I created this week:

LG754 - Lg Oak Leaves

Art Glitter - Black, Pumpkin, True Red, Fool's Gold, Orange Crush , Fauna, & Crystal
LG754 - Lg Oak Leaves

I used the double glitter technique with several beautiful Art Glitter colors. I didn't have a dark brown for the stem and acorn tops, so I mixed a little Fool's Gold and Black on a coffee filer and put that in the areas I wanted. For the bottom of the acorn, I added a little Fauna (very pale gold) to the gold/black mix to lighten it up just a little. The leaves were sprinkled randomly with True Red, Pumpkin, Fools' Gold, Orange Crush and the rest of the gold/black mixture. Use your finger to rub the glitter around to blend the colors a little, tap off the extra glitter (i save that mix for another day!), turn it over and peel off the paper, sprinkle the background with Crystal glitter. Mount into a beautiful fall card. The beautiful ribbon I used is one of my favorites from May Arts, it is a gold black weave perfect for my design.

Check out this week's awesomeness which includes our super sparkly guest designer and previous Dream Team member...

Kristi Parker

Dream It Up!

Art Glitter 

Terrece Siddoway

Louise Healy

Lea Kimmel

Pam Hornschu

Stacey Rumsby

Wendy Jordan

Cherylynn Moser

Happy Creating, 

Louise

Dreamweaver Stencils and Stampendous Blog Hop!

It's fun in the sun time again with another collaboration between Stampendous and Dreamweaver Stencils! We'll be playing together all of this week, with a fabulous hop on Friday, August 2nd, featuring a slew of amazing talent from both teams, and of course...prizes!!!

Two prize packages will be given away for the comments left on posts Monday-Thursday, July 29th - August 1st, and one prize will be given away for comments left on the hop day, Friday, August 2nd. Winners will be selected randomly and announced Thursday, August 8th. (Note: USA addresses only, please, due to shipping costs.) Here's what you could win:

Stampendous Surfer and Sandcastle Kiddos • Dreamweaver Hot Air Balloon, Ice Cream Cones, Summer, Mosaic Swirls, Bird Words, and Sandcastle stencils

 Here's what I created:

Dreamweaver Stencils LL393 - Weathervane
this will be available soon, it was just re-released for summer CHA

Steps:

• Cut a piece of Dreamweaver Double-sided mounting paper slightly larger then the stencil in each direction
• Apply Dreamweaver Handmade Hawaiian Soap to the back of the weathervane stencil
• Use a large stencil brush to brush any soap flakes out of the stencil openings or off the surface of the stencil (front and back)
• Remove the release paper from the double-side mounting paper and center the stencil, soap side down, onto the sticky surface
• Use the release paper to press the stencil down, making sure all the small bridges of the stencil are adhered well
• Sprinkle all the exposed sticky surface with Stampendous Aged Teal Embossing Enamel (from the Encrusted Jewel Teal Kit EJK06)
• Tap off extra powder and return it to the container
• Heat the enamel to set it
• Sprinkle the background with Crystal glitter
• Mount onto a lime green mat (Bazzill Basics Two Scoops Mint Chip)
• Make a card with a lime green front and add a piece of coordinating paper (Bazzill Basics Santa Barbara Beach Bum) leaving about 3/4" of the lime green showing at the bottom
• Place 5 glue dots in a row across the bottom area
• Sprinkle with the Aged Teal Embossing Enamel and heat set
• Add the weathervane to the front with foam mounting tape

Don't forget to leave me a comment for a chance to win, and just 'cuz it's nice! Then hop on over to the next in line.

Dream It Up!

Stampendous 

Janelle Stollfus

Louise Healy

Lyn Bernatovich 

Pam Hornschu

Kristine Reynolds

Lea Kimmel 

Happy Creating,
Louise

Summertime, Sparklers, S'more!

Hello everyone. Today I am on my way up to northern Minnesota to celebrate Christmas in July with my husband's family. We have been doing this for many years now and it is absolutely wonderful! No hassles or guilt at the holidays themselves, and no snow! We have traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas food, presents, games, bonfires, boating, fishing, it's four days of family fun!
But I wouldn't leave you high and dry with no Thursday inspiration. Thank goodness for technology, it gives us a lot of freedom to share ideas no matter where we are, or aren't! This months Dreamweaver Stencils theme is Summertime, Sparklers, S'more and this week I am sharing another re-released stencil with you. This one I saved especially for this week because it reminds me of the cattails around the lakes in northern MN and it's sparkly!

LL3035 - Cattails Scene
LL517 - Cattails

Steps:

• Cut a piece of Dreamweaver double sided mounting paper the same size as the stencil
• Cut a light brown mat 1/4" inch larger in each direction than the stencil
• Remove the release paper from one side of the mounting paper and center it on the mat
• Use Dreamweaver's Handmade Hawaiian soap to apply a light layer of soap to the back of the stencil
• Use a large stencil brush to remove any crumbs of soap from the openings of surface of the stencil
• Remove the top piece of release paper from the mounting paper and center the stencil, soap side down, over the sticky surface
• Use the release paper to press all the bridges of the stencil down to the sticky paper
• Use a cut straw to apply Ranger Distress Embossing Powders to each opening 
• I used a combination of Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Fired Brick for the sun, Weathered Wood and Broken China in the water, Walnut Stain in the cattails and birds, and Frayed Burlap, Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint in the leaves
• Press the powders down with your finger or a piece of release paper
• Use a stencil brush to gently brush away any extra powder
• Turn the image face down on a paper towel and carefully peel the paper off the stencil, being sure to use your other hand to keep your stencil flat on the table
• Use a heat gun to heat set the powders
• Sprinkle the background with Crystal glitter (the "Sparkler" part of the challenge!)
• Mount on a darker brown mat
• Use kraft cardstock as a cardbase
• Tape the Cattails stencil (LL517) toward the left edge and use a 1/2" stencil brush and Memento Rich Cocoa ink to stencil color through the openings, repeat a couple times across the card ( I moved the stencil down a little to extend the stems to the bottom of the card before I move to the next grouping)
• Mount the Cattails Scene in the lower right corner with foam tape
• A GREAT guy card, especially if they are the "outdoorsy type"!

Check out the other team member's creations this week. 

Dream It Up! 

Wendy Price

Lea Kimmel 

Louise Healy (me!)

Stacey Rumsby 

Terrece Siddoway 

Caroline Duncan 

Pam Hornschu 

Cherylynn Moser

Next week we will be having a blog hop with the team over at Stampendous.

It's fun in the sun time again with another collaboration between Stampendous and Dreamweaver Stencils! We'll be playing together all of next week, with a fabulous hop on Friday, August 2nd, featuring a slew of amazing talent from both teams, and of course...prizes!!!

Two prize packages will be given away for the comments left on posts Monday-Thursday, July 29th - August 1st, and one prize will be given away for comments left on the hop day, Friday, August 2nd. Winners will be selected randomly and announced Thursday, August 8th. (Note: USA addresses only, please, due to shipping costs.) Here's what you could win:

Stampendous Surfer and Sandcastle Kiddos • Dreamweaver Hot Air Balloon, Ice Cream Cones, Summer, Mosaic Swirls, Bird Words, and Sandcastle stencils

Happy Creating,

Louise

Glitter, glitter and more glitter!

 

The Dream Team has a big day today! Not only are we into week three of our Pinterest Inspired challenge, we are also playing with Ranger's Stickles Dry Glitter in the mix! We've had so much fun playing with jars of sparkly goodness, that we want to share the fun with two lucky crafters! 

 

  

Just visit everyone on the list below, and leave comments for everyone. Two winners* will be randomly selected and announced Thursday, July 4th...what a great day for a celebration! Each prize package includes a mix of five Ranger Stickles Dry Glitter, a mix of sixDreamweaver Stencils, and jar of Dreamweaver Translucent Paste, and a Palette Knife for spreading. If you want to add to the fun, play along with our Pinterest challenge and link your own creation to the linkytool on the Dream It Up! blog before July 1st for a chance to win this month's stencil prize. 

This weekend my Granddaughter had her first trip to the beach and loved it! It brought back so many wonderful memories of the weeks we spent at the Outer Banks of North Carolina years ago. We used to go for two weeks every summer with some dear friends of ours. But, alas, as happens, our kids grew up and went to college and spent all our money! Someday soon we'll have to restart those wonderful vacations. So needless to say, my inspiration this week has a beach theme (again!). Here's the link to my "At the beach" board on Pinterest, guess which picture inspired me this week! Now here's what I created using the wonderful Dreamweaver products and Ranger Stickles Dry Glitter.

LL329 - Beach chair

I used the double glitter technique. Here's how it was done:

• Cut a piece of Dreamweaver's Double sided Mounting Paper the same size as the stencil
• Cut a red cardstock mat 1/4" larger each direction
• Remove the release paper from one side of the double sided mounting paper and adhere it to the red mat
• Apply Dreamweaver's Hawaiian Soap to the back side of the Beach chair stencil (LL329), using a large stencil brush to brush away any crumbs of soap from the openings
• Remove the other piece of release paper and place the stencil soap side down on the sticky surface, making sure all the small bridges of the stencils are pressed down
• Apply Stickles Dry Fine Glitter to the umbrella and chair. I used Christmas Red in the umbrella, Cinnamon in the umbrella pole, True Blue on the chair, tapping off between each color
• Use a large stencil brush to gently brush away any glitter clinging to the stencil
• Place the image glittered side down on the table and carefully peel the paper off the stencil, be sure to hold the stencil down with your other hand so it does not bend
• Sprinkle the bottom area of the chair with Platinum stickles and the rest of the background with Distress Stickles dry glitter clear rock candy
• Apply a piece of double sided mounting paper near the bottom of a piece of white cardstock
• With the release paper still on, use the Picasso (LL332) stencil, and 1/2" brush and some blue ink to create clouds in the sky area of the card
• Remove the release paper and apply Platinum stickles across the "sand" area
• Use foam tape to mount the beach chair to the lower right corner.
• Perfect for a summer birthday, or fourth of July card!

Here's the list of sparkly-Pinteresting players:

Dream It Up!

Cherylynn Moser

Leadonna Kimmel

Laura Drahozal

Louise Healy (you're here)

Jessica Griffin

Caroline Duncan 

Stacey Rumsby

Pam Hornschu

Heidi Erickson

Cyndi Bundy

Terrece Siddoway

Lyn Bernatovich 

Jennifer Dove

The Ranger Blog

Happy Creating,

Louise